Whose Line is It—Who Knew?

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_games_from_Whose_Line_Is_It_Anyway%3F

 

I’ve spent a great deal of time searching for improv games online, in a disorganized fashion, but last semester I discovered that Wikipedia has an entire list of ideas!  What a marvellous time saver!  I adapted several of these games and others from the Creating Meaning text for my social studies inquiry project last semester (and adapted a second time for this blog).  Some of these are also games that I played with classes I have taught and some that I created myself.  Clearly these could be adapted for almost any subject.

**Most of these games could alternatively be played with puppets (because puppets make the world better, like cheese).

-Small groups acting at the same time at different spots in the room could also work.  Two groups could be together, taking turns being the audience and actors.

-WL= Adapted from Whose Line is it Anyway?

-Charades – act out a historical figure, event, glossary term, or concept

-Who Am I? – Students have a name, event, glossary term, or concept written on their backs.  They have to go around asking classmates yes or no questions to find out what is written on their backs. 

-Backwards Who Am I? – Students know who they are and act like their historical figures (or could be done with events and terms).  Students walk around asking each other questions and trying to figure out who everyone is.  The object is to figure out the most names.

-- Pictionary Charades – One student is has to act out the term like charades.  The second student has to figure out what that student is acting out and draw the term on the board.  The third student has to figure out what the term is and write it on the board, spelled correctly.  This game could get rowdy with whole class involvement (calling out guesses), or you could ask your students to write their answers on individual whiteboards (or just pick hands and take turns).  I like the whiteboard version the best, because non draw/actors are not just waiting to be picked.  I have mainly used this game for French.

-- Director’s Skit (WL) --- a small group acts out a scene (event) in history.  After performing the short improve skit, the director yells cut, tells them that it’s all wrong, and that they need to do it another way (picks a different theme --- ex: western, musical, soap opera, see separate list on Director’s Skit post for more ideas).  The process is repeated a couple times.  The groups could change each time.   It could be helpful to save time if the themes were all written on papers and chosen out of a hat each time.

--Whose Line Papers Game (WL) – Students have papers in their pockets with unknown lines written on them (for famous quotations, terms, or concepts).  At random points in the skit, the students will take out a paper and read what it says (randomness is the key to humour here).  Will increase familiarity with terms (use early in unit, or even before teaching terms)  Glossary, drama style!

--  Freeze! (WL) – Two students at a time act out something from the unit or course.  At random intervals, other students will call out “Freeze!” The new student will jump in and take the position of one of the previous players.  The improv must be related to the course content, but can combine different points in the course to add humour.

--Scenes from a Hat (WL)--- All the students write a term on a slip of paper.  All the papers go into a hat.  Small groups will take turns acting out the terms written on the papers.

-- Newsflash (WL): One student is the field reporter, and the other two are news anchors.  Play a silent video (pictures could work too) on the screen (behind the field reporter, who is not allowed to turn around and look.  The reporter has to guess what is being shown on the screen based on the anchor’s questioning and sometimes the audience’s reactions.  (The idea is that the reporter is only standing in front of a green screen)

--Party Quirks (WL): Each student in the small group is given a term that he/she has to act out.  The party host has to guess what each student’s term is.  Once the term has been guessed, that student sits down.

-- Themed Who Wants to be a Millionaire (WL) --- Students play who wants to be a millionaire, but with a theme, like the director’s skit.

--Mission Impossible (WL) – Two students are secret agents.  A third student is the voice on tape, who reads out the mission for the other students to act out (in a boss-type voice).  The mission will be one of the terms, people, or events, which the secret agents have to act out in an exaggeratedly dangerous and intense manner (like secret agents)

--News Report (WL): Four students act out a news report of a scene from the unit/course.  One student is the news anchor, one the field reporter, another the expert, and the last student will play every other character needed.

- Game Show (WL): Three students are game show contestants and a fourth is the host.  The three contestants have secret identities (historical figures from course content).  The host has to figure out what the three identities are, based on their behaviour (caricature) and answers to two questions each.  The audience knows what the identities are.

--Talk show (Creating Meaning 221) -- student guests take on the role of a historical figure or participant in an event.  The host and audience ask the character questions (ex: how did it feel when ___ happened?  What were you the most afraid of when ____ happened)?)

-- Could be done in panel form so that several students have the chance to answer and work together.

- Narrative Pantomime (Creating Meaning 221) –Students mime as the narrator reads or tells a story


-Claudia Cornett. Creating Meaning through Literature and the Arts: Arts Integration for Classroom Teachers.